It’s The Ashley Show, Therefore I’m In Charge – Everything I’ve Learned In 300 Posts

Ladies & gentlemen (Gentleman? Are there guys who read this blog?) Welcome to Post #300. (Festive occasions deserve festive attire!! Now if only I could figure out a way to throw confetti through each of your computer screens…) 

Some things that I’ve learned along the way…

• Being diagnosed with Crohn’s changed my life, but perhaps not in the ways that I thought it would. It has opened doors for me and I’ve learned that you can quit your job, start fresh and live the life of your dreams. I’ve embraced gluten free vegan life and I’m in love with all the delicious food I eat; as a result of this, my Crohn’s is in check and I’m no longer in pain every day or suffering the way I used to. Amazing!
  
• I’ve been able to accomplish some things that I don’t know if I ever dreamed possible with my eating, physical activity, bellydancing, my job, performing, and learning from past experiences.
  
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle takes work, but it’s so worth it to feel great. I can’t imagine going back to the life I used to live and feeling the way I did back then. This is good.

I often walk away from my Weight Watchers meetings quoting things that my members have said, revelling in their wisdom and shared experiences. On Saturday one of my members said [after talking about choices she had made during the week] “It’s the ____ show and I’m in charge of my choices”. It really resonated with me because I’ve been f---ing up the Ashley show something big lately and I need to step up my game and be accountable for my choices. I have learned way too much and worked too hard to backtrack and I’m not a particularly passive person in ANYTHING that I do. After all, my motto for 2010 was "Go big or go home", so here goes nothing.

This means that May is going to be a month of me holding myself accountable to my choices with food and activity. Lindsay and I have been sending one another nightly accountability emails for the past few weeks and her support is really helping me to stay on track. On Sunday I hit the gym for BodyFlow and my first ever BodyAttack class in an effort to kick start my week with a healthy dose of exercise. I LOVED BodyAttack!! I will definitely be doing this class more often. After doing Boot Camp for the last 8 weeks, I felt confident in my ability to do a lot of the moves (including lots of push-ups on my toes!) and enjoyed the energy of the instructor and participants in the class. I will definitely be doing Attack again.

And more FIT CHICKS.

And more bellydancing.

And making good choices with food.

And being kind to myself through talking about my feelings, journaling, spending time with people I love and getting enough rest and “me time”.

These are all things I can do, and I’m excited to do them.

Here’s to post #301 and beyond!!

Vegan MoFo 2009 & Yummy Eats This Week

I have joined the ranks of over 240 food loving vegan bloggers for Vegan MoFo III!

What is Vegan MoFo you ask? (from this post)
”For the entire month of October, blogs from all over the free world and Alaska will be writing about vegan food and the awesome power of veganism. Vegan MoFo started in 2007, when Isa Chandra thought it'd be a good idea to give NaNoWriMo some stiff vegan food related competition.”

I’ve been brainstorming ideas over the last few days and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for me to post more for you guys as well as get lots of ideas from other vegan bloggers. I’m really excited! Not vegan? Have no fear - my posts will still have an Ashley-friendly-Weight-Watchers-gluten-free-Crohn’s-dancing-through-life look and feel. (I could never pretend to be something I’m not!) While they will all relate to the goodness of vegan food, the topics I’m planning will have a wide spread appeal, which I think is great since I’ll be able to spread the Vegan MoFo love across the board!

Speaking of yummy vegan eats, here are some food pics from this week:

Leftover snobby joe’s, mexican millet, brussel sprouts and a peach

Incredibly delicious pad thai! This was a recipe I was testing for jae steele’s upcoming cookbook. We really really enjoyed it and I will definitely be making it again (although not any time soon because it made A LOT!)

Another delicious recipe from the tests – curried split pea soup. You might be seeing a lot of this soup on the blog because I think I’m going to be making it all the time. As I said in my last post, soup is such an easy, inexpensive, rewarding meal to make!! ‘Tis the season to get out the big soup pot and snuggle up with someone you love and a big spoon!

This dinner had a lot of good things going for it – baked falafels with tahini sauce, sweet potato kugel

and steamed broccoli. This meal was totally inspired by my cooking classes and I was in serious foodie heaven. I definitely had some kugel for breakfast the next morning and have been eating baked falafels like cookies – I am not ashamed!!

Last but not least, here I am with some All Green juice from Fresh. I need to get myself a juicer so I can make these things at home. I’ve had my eye on this little guy for awhile now. I love fresh juice and my only hesitation has been the cost and adding another appliance to our kitchen. I think it would be worth it though… We’ll see what happens!

I’m really excited for the weekend! Tonight I’m meeting up with some Weight Watchers gals for dinner, tomorrow I’ve got 3 action packed WW meetings planned and then tomorrow night I’m having a special friend over for dinner before heading to a belly dancing show! I will definitely be posting details on the blog.

Not only will next week mark the beginning of Vegan MoFo,  but there will also be a spooky new activity chart (how’s September looking?), a date with Byron Katie, and another giveaway (because this marks my 200th post!) I’m really excited about this one and hope that you will be too!!

Happy 1 Year to me! Let's celebrate with a giveaway

Eric knows how to party

This blog is 1 year old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday I started this up as a way to connect to my members during the week and now it's turned into something so much bigger than that! Earlier this week I hit over 20,000 views which just blows my mind!!

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, commenting and sending me emails. It really makes me so happy to connect with all of you and as a result I've learned so much. WW has taught me so much about myself and has helped me more on my life journey than just in weight loss. It has pushed me in directions I had no idea I would go in and introduced me to people I had no idea existed - but am so happy that I'm going there now. I also have to say that being a WW Leader is one of the best, most fulfilling jobs on the planet!!! My members continue to inspire me every single week and I am so grateful to lead such a phenomenal group of people. 

I've learned that no matter how far off plan you feel you've gone, you're never completely off the WW wagon. Sometimes you're in the driver's seat, other times you're holding on for dear life and there are times when you are running behind it trying to catch up. It will always be in your periphery, and just like the 'Footprints' poem a leader, receptionist, friend, fellow poster or even "Hungry" will always be there to carry you when you need it most.

This blog originally started as a way for me to connect with my members and other WW folks throughout but morphed into something entirely different when I was diagnosed with Crohn's. Thank you for your amazing support and continued enthusiasm for my blog as I've tweaked the format. I love all of my readers - the Weight Watchers, foodies, vegans, yogis, friends, family and everyone else!

Since birthdays are a festive occasion, I thought a giveaway would be in order!! To make it even more fun, there are two different things you can win!!

It's no secret that I love my Laptop Lunch. The lovely folks at Obentec (who make the Laptop Lunches) have graciously agreed to give one to one of my readers!! I am so excited to spread the Laptop Lunch love to one of you.

A second winner will also recieve a prize package with a few fun "Ashley's Choice" items in it. The contents haven't been confirmed as of yet but may include something like this or maybe a couple of my favourite things or maybe a book? I'm having a lot of fun putting it together!!

To win:

• Leave me a comment and tell me which post over the last year was your favourite (and why)


• Gain another entry by posting a link to this giveaway on your blog and leaving me a comment to tell me about it.


• Gain a third entry by checking out the Laptop Lunch site and leave me a comment telling me which bento set is your favourite. (I love my pink set!)

The giveaway is open to readers in Canada and US. This giveaway will close next Sunday June 7 at 6:00pm EST. I will choose 2 winners through a random number generator and will contact the winners via email. Please be sure to include your email in your entries so that I can contact you easily if you win.

Thanks again to my Laptop Lunch friends for donating a bento box for one of you lucky readers!

And thanks again to all of you! I look forward to more blogging in the year to come...